Durand's fine figure
emerging from that quarter of the hall where our host and hostess stood
to receive their guests. His eye was roaming hither and thither and his
manner was both eager and expectant. Whom was he seeking? Some one
of the many bright and vivacious girls about me, for he turned almost
instantly our way. But which one?

I thought I knew. I remembered at whose house I had met him first, at
whose house I had seen him many times since. She was a lovely girl,
witty and vivacious, and she stood at this very moment at my elbow. In
her beauty lay the lure, the natural lure for a man of his gifts and
striking personality. If I continued to watch, I should soon see his
countenance light up under the recognition she could not fail to give
him. And I was right; in another instant it did, and with a brightness
there was no mistaking. But one feeling common to the human heart lends
such warmth, such expressiveness to the features. How handsome it made
him look, how distinguished, how everything I was not except--

But what does this mean? He has passed Miss Sperry--passed her with
a smile and a friendly word--and is speaking to me, singling me out,
offering me his arm! He is smiling, too, not as he smiled on Miss
Sperry, but more warmly, with more that is personal in it. I took his
arm in a daze. The lights were dimmer than I thought; nothing was really
bright except his smile. It seemed to change the world for me. I forgot
that I was plain, forgot that I was small, with nothing to recommend
me to the eye or heart, and let myself be drawn away, asking nothing,
anticipating nothing, till I found myself alone with him in the fragrant
recesses of the conservatory, with only the throb of music in our ears
to link us to the scene we had left.

Why had he brought me here, into this fairyland of opalescent lights and
intoxicating perfumes? What could he have to say--to show? Ah in another
moment I knew. He had seized my hands, and love, ardent love, came
pouring from his lips.

Could it be real? Was I the object of all this feeling, I? If so, then
life had changed for me indeed.

Silent from rush of emotion, I searched his face to see if this
Paradise, whose gates I was thus passionately bidden to enter, was
indeed a verity or only a dream born of the excitement of the dance and
the charm of a scene exceptional in its splendor and picturesqueness
even for so luxurious a city as New York.

But it was no mere dream. Tru